Monday, August 18, 2008

Kansas Dialogue



Kansas Dialogue was in Kansas City, Kansas this year. Our hosts arranged for our opening evening to be at the Strawberry Hill Museum, which afforded this view of downtown Kansas City. I'm sorry we didn't get there in time to see the museum.

I'm so glad I went to Dialogue. The theme was about neighborhoods, and some wonderful discussions ensued.

I was asked to present about "new" neighborhoods and barely scratched the surface. I don't think I even mentioned myspace or LinkedIn if that tells you how much I scratched the surface. I was amused at the irony that the night before I was at the desk in the hotel, arranging my thoughts about these new technological neighborhoods by the old fashioned note card method.



There's something about being able to rearrange thoughts physically that I like. Not sure what that's about, but there it is. I'm also very fond of using post-it-notes in much the same fashion. I did, however, make notes for my speech on the computer the next morning. Fortunately, the Hilton Garden Inn where we were staying had free printing in their business center. A nice perk.

Kris and I didn't get around to taking our "cute girl pic" until this morning. I don't look my best the day after a full day of sessions and very little sleep. But, there you go. You'd think at some point I'd catch on to the idea that I could just not put the photos up. So far, that seems to have escaped me. This little photo tradition got started a couple of years ago I think.

Kansas Dialogue is an off-the-record conversation so I'm very careful to only talk about my own thoughts, and would not reveal anyone who was attending without their permission. Obviously, Kris is cool with it, and the website shares that the topic was neighborhoods, so that's not speaking out of turn. It was a really interesting weekend and it reminded me of a number of things I've written about here in the past.

This I Believe
Dr. Robert Putnam's Lecture about "Bowling Alone"
Beverly Morgan Welch of the African American Museum

One of the best things about dialogue is reconnecting with folks from across the state. There are some folks involved I would love to see more often. This time we had quite a few new people that were wonderful additions to the event. I'm hoping they want to return. I'm eager to do it again.
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